Northern World League

[siv]

Should we consider setting up a Northern hemisphere World League

Sitting above the English Super League

Where teams like
- Toronto
- Catalans
- Toulouse
- Belgrade
- New York
- Valencia
- Ottawa

And few other clubs from England can play

 

[taste2taste]

I think its important for these teams to work their way up to Super League.

Building a team from scratch is an incredibly difficult and expensive task. If the owners can prove they can pay the bills and there is an appetite for the sport in these new markets then they will eventually find their way to the Super League.

If all goes well, New York and Ottawa will be approved in the coming months to join league 1 in 2021. Toulouse have been knocking on the door of Super League for a few years now, chances are in the next season or 2 they will get promoted. Not sure how far away we are from Valencia and Belgrade joining L1 but a lot will depend how successful the other new teams are.

Its very possible within 5 years the Super League will have 3 teams from North America and 2 from France.

 

[wain]

I would hope the plan is that in 10 years time, we could have these 3 or 4 Nth American teams pull out and start their own Nth American Pro-league, and bring in a few fresh clubs to make it a 6-8 team comp to start with.
having a few pre-formed big teams and creating a footprint for new teams before they start should make it more financially viable than just pulling random teams out the hat now to start a pro league.

 

[Perth Tiger]

I would hope the plan is that in 10 years time, we could have these 3 or 4 Nth American teams pull out and start their own Nth American Pro-league, and bring in a few fresh clubs to make it a 6-8 team comp to start with.
having a few pre-formed big teams and creating a footprint for new teams before they start should make it more financially viable than just pulling random teams out the hat now to start a pro league.

I can't ever see that happening because Super league, either in its current form or hopefully in a form with multiple NA and Continental European teams, will always be massively more valuable for teams than a start up in NA. no team would voluntarily withdraw and we know the issues if teams are forced out of a comp.

What they should be planning for long term (25-50 year time frame at least) is for the Super league to separate itself to a degree from its English base, leaving in place a high level championship in England, with the super league evolving into some form of a 'Champions league'

 

[Pommy]

It’s a nice idea but it’s a million miles away in reality. The world isn’t full of David Argyles and Catalan whilst not doing bad now are capable of being a total basket case. It’s only about two seasons ago that they dodged relegation from the SL.
Most of the other sides you’ve mentioned have big question marks on them at this point.

 

[roughyedspud]

Should we consider setting up a Northern hemisphere World League

No...

 

[Perth Red]

Next

 

[Dark Corner]

If the NFL couldn't get money to support the World Football League in the 90s how can a bunch of pricks running our game do better.

 

[Walter sobchak]

If Ottawa and New York ever materialize and repeat the success of the Wolfpack then you’d expect other franchises to pop up from North America wanting a piece of the action. Places like Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia and Chicago etc could be next to the party and this would seriously boost the chances of creating a North American conference running concurrently alongside a European super league conference.

Or alternatively you could have an international conference run along the same lines which could include the likes of Catalan, Toulouse and maybe even a Paris franchise or London.

 

[Perth Red]

If Ottawa and New York ever materialize and repeat the success of the Wolfpack then you’d expect other franchises to pop up from North America wanting a piece of the action. Places like Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia and Chicago etc could be next to the party and this would seriously boost the chances of creating a North American conference running concurrently alongside a European super league conference.

Or alternatively you could have an international conference run along the same lines which could include the likes of Catalan, Toulouse and maybe even a Paris franchise or London.

challenge would be where will players come from? There’s only so many French, English and Southern Hemisphere players so where you going to find another 25-30 per new club?
There still isn’t the financial returns, or international kudos, to excite multi millionaire owners to start up new clubs and in reality that’s what it would take.

 

[Walter sobchak]

challenge would be where will players come from? There’s only so many French, English and Southern Hemisphere players so where you going to find another 25-30 per new club?
There still isn’t the financial returns, or international kudos, to excite multi millionaire owners to start up new clubs and in reality that’s what it would take.

Where talking about the next 10, 15 and 20 years so one would hope by then that nations like Fiji and PNG are churning out players similar to that of New Zealand.

Maybe even by then a country like France could be producing players in higher numbers as could states like Victoria and Western Australia, especially if Perth have a NRL franchise.

 

[Pommy]

Where talking about the next 10, 15 and 20 years so one would hope by then that nations like Fiji and PNG are churning out players similar to that of New Zealand.

Maybe even by then a country like France could be producing players in higher numbers as could states like Victoria and Western Australia, especially if Perth have a NRL franchise.

If France haven’t done it in the past 85 years what’s going to change in the next 20?

 

[Walter sobchak]

If France haven’t done it in the past 85 years what’s going to change in the next 20?

I was hoping that the inclusion of Catalan into super league and potentially Toulouse joining them in the not too distant future both running academy setups could have helped swell the number of kids playing the game resulting in more French RL players turning professional.

Hopefully other French teams can join the English league structure increasing the numbers even further and preferably in big cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille etc.

 

[Perth Red]

TBF to be producing NRL quality players takes many thousands of kids and many millions of $'s spent on jnr development investment and pathways. There is no doubt that there are plenty of places with kids playing, or potentially playing in the future, the game but is the money and the commitment there to turn them into first grade stars? Maybe any new club from a non heartland area with no Jnr development should get a "development tax" that is used to fund jnr development in areas that do have kids playing so there is enough coming through to play for extra clubs?